Improvement in diaphragms for air or vacuum railway-brakes



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B. L. STOWE. Diaphmgm for Air or Vacuum Railway-Brakes. No. 221,980. Patented Nov. 25, I879.

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N. PETERS PHDTD-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D c.

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B. L, ST OWE. Diaphragm-for Air or Vacuum Railway-Brakes. No. 221,980. Patented Nov. 25, 1879.

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N. PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D C,

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. B. L.v STOW'E. Diaphragm for Air or'vaouum Railway-Brak-es.

No. "221,980. Patented Nov. 25, I879.

wzmmm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

- BENJAMIN L. STOWE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO JOHN VAN DEUSSEN REED, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN DIAPHRAGMS FOR AIR 0R VACUUM RAILWAY-BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 221,980, dated November 25, 1879; application filed January 8, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN L. Srown,

- of the city of New York, county and State of i is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of the same.

My improved diaphragm is composed of a seamless woven fabric, shaped during the process of weaving into the form in which it is intended to be used, whereby the liability of bursting at the seams, which is encountered and often happens in rubber diaphragms now in use, is obviated.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan of my improved seamless diaphragm. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same acrossits center, a a being the warp-strands and b the filling. Fig. 3 is an end sectional view of portions of aloom upon which my seamless diaphragm may be woven. Fig. 4 is a front face view of the same with the lower part broken away. Fig. 5 is a plan of a smaller portion of the same, and Fig. 6 is a plan of a portion of a modification of my improved diaphragm.

My improved diaphragm may be woven upon an ordinary straight loom possessing such alterations and modifications as hereinafter described.

In the machine employed in constructing the diaphragm the frame A is retained, also the lathe B, the shuttle O, the reed D, and the heddles c of a plain loom are retained; but there is substituted for the warp-beam a separate spool and an independent and automatic tension, E, for each warp-strand used.

The warp-spools may be placed upon any suitable spool-rack. The mechanism for forming the warp-sheds is also novel, being so arranged that the desired form may be given to the diaphragm, but without using the cumbersome Jacquard movement usually employed when an irregular movement is desired to be given to the warp-sheds.

I have dispensed with the cloth-beam, and use in its stead the clamp F, and the necessary mechanism for operating it.

c are the heddles, their lower ends passing zontally between the two rods, 9 g, and in each dent of this reed is placed one of the hooked plates 0 e, alternate plates being placed with their hooks in opposite direction.

Between these two rows of plates e e and above the reed fare two long sliding rods, h h, to each of which is riveted a thin plate, j j. Above the rods h h are two bars, It It, the

ends of which enter vertical slideways Z I cut in the frame m, and are free to be moved up and down by the operation of the connectingrod n, levers p, rods q, and shafts or eccentrics upon the usual cam-shaft. Each of the horizontal bars Ick has a lipfr, upon its lower and outer side, this lip extending outward far enough to catch the books of the plates 0 6, except when the wide plates j j shall have pushed them considerably away from the center of the reed f.

The sliding rods h h and plates j j may have an automatic indicator attached to them, for the purpose of operating them to give a desiredv form to the article to be woven; but, as shown in the drawings, it is intended that they shall be operated by hand. When the plates j j are drawn out, the hooked plates 0 e hang in nearly a direct line from the frame on to the rod Gr, so that the lip rooming down with bars k or k strikes their rounded upper corner, and crowds them away far enough-to pass below their hooks and engage them, so that they will be carried up with the bar It or it when it rises, and will continue to rise and fall with the bar until the beveled. end of the plate j or j shall have been pushed in far enough to crowd the'hooks away from the lip r, and freeing them allow them to remain down.

The clamp F consists of two thin strips of steel, 8 and t, having sharp edges, which meet directly in front of the weaving-point. The lower one, s, is attached to a stationary bar, H, and the upper one, t, to a hinged bar, I. At each end of this hinged bar I is a vertical pawl, u, and upon the lathe B, just below the level of the shuttle-race, is a small inclined projection, 17, arranged so as to strike the pawl u, and raise the upper jaw, I, of the clamps a little before the reed D completes its forward movement, but to allow it to drop over, and the upper jaw to'fall, just as the beater reaches its extreme forward position. As the reed D recedes the pawl u is free to be drawn backward, and over the projection without lifting the upper jaw. Now, if it is desired to weave a diaphragm, sufficient warp-strands to weave it at its greatest diameter must be threaded into the loom by passing the ends of the warps from the warp-spools through the automatic tension E E, as shown in Fig. 3, and eyes of heddles c, then through the reed D, and between the jaws s t of the clamp F, and securing them at the front of the loom. The slidin g plates may then be advanced, so that but few of the hooked plates (and consequently warp-strands) will be raised by the bar as it 7 rises, and the shuttle is thrown, and a weft deposited in under the warps so raised. The reed then advances and beats the work, and the'jaws t of the clamp F being raised by the pawl u and projection 11 just as the beater strikes the weft deposited, the Weft is driven through the clamp F, and, the clamp closing at the moment that the reed is in its extreme will be beaten, as before, and so on, until all the warps are engaged.

It 1s obvious that much more work has been woven at the center than at the sides of the loom; but the beater D" and clamp F have at all times maintained a straight weaving-line, consequently the fabric is gathered in an irregular form in front of the clamp F.

The next operation is to give the required dish-shaped form to the diaphragm, which is done by gradually advancing the slides j j, and employing a few less warps at each pick,

until but a small number at the center are ongaged, and then as gradually withdrawing the slides, until all are once more employed. The result of this is to form a sort of gore or V, and there are, preferably, three of these Vs upon each side of the diaphragm.

The balance of the diaphragm is woven by gradually advancing the slides, and employing fewer warps at every second pick, until it is completed, when another one may be woven in a similar manner.

The independent warp-spools and tension for each strand allows each strand to be drawn in, as required, and the clamp F, 850., takes the fabric away, whatever its form.

A diaphragm, Fig. 6, may also be woven upon the same machine by beginning to weave upon a line drawn from the center of the diaphragm to its outer periphery upon one side, and then by throwin g in a constant succession of VS, which shall reach from one side to the other in such a manneras to makeonc side much longer than the other. This operation may be" continued until sufficient length is woven to allow the two ends to be joined by a single seam, or double that length may be woven, and a double diaphragm made by securing the two ends.

This process will make a diaphragm of the desired form with one seam, and a small hole through its center, and with-a selvage-edge about the outside, as well as about the hole through its center.

There are, I believe, novel and patentable devices indicated in the above description ofthe machine, for which it is my intention at.

some future time to apply for Letters Patent.

It is obvious that a Jacquard or some similar movement may be employed to give the requisite motions to the warp-strands if it is desired to weave these diaphragms of more than one ply.

After completion these woven diaphragms may be covered either externally or internally, or both, with rubber.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A seamless woven diaphragm for air or vacuum air-brakes, having a dish-shaped form, substantially as specified.

Witness my hand this 2d day of October, 1878.

BENJAMIN L. STOWE.

Witnesses:

ALMET REED, P. SMITH. 

